Some time in the not too distant future I would like to take a trip to Ireland and visit the places my ancestors lived. I have visited Ireland before with breaks in Dublin and Cork. Great trips but no family connections. To be honest, the last time I visited Ireland I had no idea about … Continue reading An Ancestral Road Trip
Author: Shaking The Branches
My Cousin and Uncle James Gerard Burns
For this post I decided to go back in my family tree and along the branches and choose someone at random to see what interesting facts I could find about them. The person I chose was John Burns who was born in Newmains, Lanarkshire in 1890. John is a fairly recent addition to my tree. … Continue reading My Cousin and Uncle James Gerard Burns
Searching For His Father – Matthew Brawley 1915-2005
A while back I posted the story of Edith Cran and her connection to my family tree. Edith had two children, Matthew and Edith who were adopted by my great grand uncle Matthew Brawley. You can read the post by clicking here. I am sure that both of her children are biologically related to the … Continue reading Searching For His Father – Matthew Brawley 1915-2005
A Surprise For My Mother
Finding new family photos is always exciting. The picture below was sent to me by Maureen who discovered my blog via Facebook. She and I are connected through her great grandfather, Edward Cooper who was the second husband of my great granny, Sarah Helferty and stepfather to my maternal granny. We keep in contact and … Continue reading A Surprise For My Mother
Police Raid 1890
Some of the best family history finds come from newspapers. Yes the official records will tell you where an ancestor was born and died, who they married etc but those records won’t tell you much about the type of person they were. Newspaper articles can tell a lot and it’s not always good news. I … Continue reading Police Raid 1890
Who Do I Think I Am?
If you are reading my blog it is likely that you have an interest in family history. Maybe you have been researching for a long time or perhaps you have landed here via a Google search of a family name. I’ve been researching for a few years now and I am sometimes asked what prompted … Continue reading Who Do I Think I Am?
Shaking The Branches 